Colombia: Close the laboratory of war

19 April 2004, Index number: AMR 23/002/2004

The department of Arauca is on the front line of Colombia's human rights crisis. It is rich in natural resources and lies next to the Venezuelan border. The region is therefore economically and militarily strategic to all the parties in Colombia's armed conflict - the security forces, operating in alliance with paramilitary groups, and guerrilla forces. These groups are fighting an intense and escalating conflict for control of the region. It is a battle in which the people of the department have come under attack from all sides.